Get Back in Our Lives
by Coopereid
Summary: Final story of the Maroon 5 Trilogy (Daylight and Love Somebody). Spencer's comfortable with his new job, while the team suffers from the loss of him. Can the team convince him to come back, or is it too late?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** First off, I'd like to say I'm dedicating this story (and everything I've written/will ever write) to my best friend Allyson, better known on this website as Fade Into Color. She recently died after a long, well-fought battle with cancer, but the best thing about her was that she never let it define her. She would always smile and laugh and would never accept a pity party, nor would she throw one for herself. She was my muse, my best friend, my beta, and pretty much everything to me, and I'm going to keep writing for her. One of the last things we discussed was me finishing and posting this story, and she even gave it the title. Thanks for all of the help, Ally, and I hope you'll still be watching over me.

* * *

Leaving the BAU had been weird for Spencer. As predicted, he'd called the CIA shortly after and they'd offered him a position that day. He'd gone in for the interview and, later that week, he started a new position as a Special Agent. With the CIA, he was able to work on his own as opposed to with a team, so he was able to keep his thoughts flowing and nobody was there to cut him off. There were some times where he did miss the team dynamic, but it wasn't worth his happiness. In this position, he was even able to do a guest lecture at local colleges every few weeks. Doing them on his own, at first, was nerve wracking, but when it became less about ranting and more about presenting the facts, it slowly got easier and to the point where he was comfortable. The best part of the job was the fact that he didn't travel and was able to go home every single night, meaning that he could be with Derek, if he wasn't off on a case.

Every night, he'd make it home before Derek, which usually meant he would cook dinner. Derek would walk in just as he was finishing and he'd make the plates, setting them on the kitchen table.

"How was work?" Spencer asked, pouring himself some water and sitting down.

Derek pet Clooney before walking out to the kitchen, quickly kissing Spencer and taking his own seat. Usually 'how was work?' translated to 'have they replaced me yet?', but Spencer didn't want to come right out and say it. "Okay. Things have been a little hectic the last few months."

Spencer picked up his fork, twirling around his pasta and thinking to himself. "...Since I left?"

He shrugged. "I guess you could say that. Without you there to pawn off case files on, there's just more of a workload. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Well I know the CIA is all hush hush, but how was the day for my CIA Special Agent?"

Spencer smiled slightly, chewing his food and swallowing. "It was good. I finished my workload early and I was able to work on my guest lecture for the end of the week."

"I can't believe that you've actually turned into this super version of Spencer Reid who can do a guest lecture."

He looked up at Derek. "A few months of being married and that's what surprises you most about me?"

Derek laughed. "I guess so. I'd like to think me sharing my secrets for public speaking helped."

"Maybe a bit."

After Derek let Clooney out, the two of them sat up in bed while Clooney slept at the footboard.

Derek wrapped an arm around Spencer's shoulders, kissing the top of his head. "What's on that mind of yours?"

Spencer smiled, toying with the ring on Derek's finger before squeezing his hand. Shortly after telling the team, Garcia had insisted that the two of them needed rings to prove their marriage and show it off. "For once, absolutely nothing. My mind's not worrying about the next case coming up, I'm happy with work, I enjoy what I'm doing, and I'm able to come home at the end of the day, putting it into the back of my mind. There's nothing to hold onto or take personally anymore, and I have to admit, I really like that."

"I'm glad that you're happy," he admitted, kissing his temple.

"Are you?" Spencer asked, looking up at him.

Derek shrugged. "I don't know. I went from seeing my husband practically every second of every day to nights and weekends, if I'm not on a case. It's kind of a bummer, if you ask me."

"Well, I'm sorry, but thanks to 'fraternization rules', that's not going to happen. It does suck, but there's nothing we can do about it."

"Tell me about it." He sighed, rubbing his arm. "Doing anything this weekend?"

Spencer thought to himself before quickly shaking his head. "Nothing at work and we don't have any plans, why?"

"Because the team misses you, and it's about time we have a 'family' dinner at Rossi's, that is if there's no case."

"So you're in?"

Spencer nodded. "I'm in."

Shortly before falling asleep, Derek sighed. "Hey, Spencer?"

Spencer looked up at him tiredly. "Hm?"

He thought to himself before shaking his head, kissing the top of his head. "I love you, good night."

Spencer smiled, resting his head on Derek's chest. "I love you too."

He ran his fingers through Spencer's hair until he fell asleep and sighed, wrapping his arms around the smaller man.

The next morning after getting ready, Derek walked out to the kitchen to find Spencer filling up travel mugs with coffee. Derek smiled, walking over and kissing his cheek, taking his cup.

"Thank you." He gave him a quick kiss before reaching over for his car keys, putting them into his pocket. "So, dinner on you tonight?"

"I'll have dinner ready and waiting when you get home." Spencer set down his mug, wrapping his arms around Derek's neck. "Promise."

"Well if you're promising," Derek said with a smirk, lifting his chin and kissing him.

Spencer pulled back, patting his arm. "You have to get going or you're going to be late."

Derek sighed dramatically before kissing the top of his head, grabbing his travel mug. "I'll give you a call later," he said, walking toward the door.

Spencer shook his head, reaching over on the counter and holding up his credentials. "Forgetting something?"

Derek turned around and walked over, taking them from him. "Thank you."

"You'd lose your head if it wasn't attached," Spencer said, patting his arm.

"And that's why I have you." He kissed his cheek again before walking out, closing the door behind him.

Derek made it into work on time and groaned when he saw that even more case files had been added to his pile. There was no possible way he'd be able to take a lunch today if he wanted to finish all of those before the next load was dumped on him tomorrow. Running a hand over his face, he set his things down on his desk before picking up his mug to get a refill in the break room.

While he was filling up his coffee, he heard heels clicking behind him.

"Good morning, beautiful," Derek said, turning around and kissing her cheek.

She smiled. "Good morning, one half of my favorite married couple." She turned around. "No offense, JJ."

"None taken," she said, opening the fridge and putting her lunch inside. "Did you talk to Spence?" JJ asked, leaning against the counter next to him.

He sighed, shaking his head. "Unfortunately not."

"Derek, we need him," Garcia demanded, lowering his voice. "This team can't possibly function without him, and soon enough, Strauss is going to notice the void because of our major back-up on case files, and she's going to insist on replacing him with some uptight, unlikable person who's not going to mesh well with this team. We're a family, and we only worked so well because we were a complete family."

"Trust me, I know," he said, sipping his coffee and setting the mug down. "What am I supposed to do? He likes this new job, he likes his guest lecturing gigs, and he really likes the hours. It's obvious that the bureau isn't going to let him back after 'what he pulled', which I think is crap, considering he just found a loophole in the system."

Emily walked in, all but moving Derek out of the way to refill her mug. "Thirty. I have thirty case files to get through today. Right about now, I would kill for the days when I could toss a few over the divider, no questions asked." She turned to Derek. "For the love of God, please tell me you talked to him."

"...I dropped hints about how swamped we are, and told him about it when he asked about my day-"

"But did you tell him we're incomplete and totally suck without him?" Garcia asked.

He sighed. "I tried, believe me, I tried. But I don't think he's coming back. He loves his new job, he's never going to forgive whatever agent it is that ratted us out and therefore hates this place just for that, but add in everything that happened between him and Hotch? I don't see him coming back."

Garcia groaned. "Did you at least get him to agree to dinner on Saturday?"

"Yeah, he's in for that, and when he talks about his job? You guys need to be happy for him, because he's loving what he's doing and wants his family to be proud of him for doing something different."

JJ nodded, running a hand over her face and exhaling. "I can do that, but it's going to take a lot of self control not to beg him to come back and save us from this hole."

"That makes two of us," Emily mumbled, finishing her coffee and pouring another mug.

Garcia put up her hand. "Three."

Derek held up his own. "Four."

Rossi walked in, filling up his mug. "Make that five."


	2. Chapter 2

When the weekend came, Derek was glad that a case hadn't come up so they could go to dinner with the team. He hoped that, since the entire team would be there, someone would bring up the subject of him coming back to the team. He'd tried talking Spencer into it in the past, but then Spencer would talk about how much he liked his new job, followed by venting about his frustrations at Hotch for not fighting harder to keep him at the BAU. Whenever that happened, he knew better than to press the issue.

The two of them laid in bed Saturday morning, Spencer curled up beside him. Derek smiled, rubbing his arm and kissing the top of his head. "What do you want to do today?"

Spencer moved closer, wrapping his arms around Derek. "Absolutely nothing."

Derek reached up, running his fingers through his hair. "Nothing? Who are you and where's my husband?"

Spencer swatted at his chest. "I'm here, I'd just enjoy a day of sitting around and relaxing before we go over to Rossi's for dinner."

"Sounds good to me."

"...Do you think Hotch going to show up to this one?" Spencer asked, looking up at him.

To be completely honest, Derek didn't know. The first month, Hotch had shown up, but it was extremely awkward between him and Spencer, considering what had happened between them. The next few months, Hotch would always have an excuse, his go-to being something involving Jack. "We put Garcia in charge of asking him this time, and if he's anything like the rest of us, he can't say no to her."

Spencer smiled slightly, pulling the blankets over them.

"If he is there, are you going to talk to him, or are you two still tiptoeing?"

He swallowed, clearing his throat. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "I mean, if he starts a conversation with me, I'm not going to shut him out, but I don't think I'm going to actively pursue talking to him. You understand, right?"

Derek nodded, kissing his temple. "I understand. Just don't make it awkward?"

"...I promise, it won't be anymore awkward than I usually am."

Derek laughed softly. "Sounds perfect."

The two of them were the first to arrive at Rossi's mansion that night. Spencer was greeted by Rossi with a kiss to each cheek and he blushed, stepping inside and pulling off his jacket.

"Is Hotch coming tonight?" Derek asked, hanging his jacket and Spencer's.

Rossi nodded. "He's just dropping Jack off with Jessica and he'll be on his way."

Spencer took a deep breath, putting his hands in his pockets.

"How's the job?" Rossi asked him.

Spencer smiled slightly. "It's great. It's amazing hours, the work is similar to the BAU, less travel, and in my spare time, I'm able to do guest lecturing."

Rossi raised an eyebrow. "Guest lecturing, you? Please tell me you've cut the existentialism joke from your act."

Derek chuckled and Spencer gave him a look before turning back to Rossi. "I learned my lesson the first time, that joke isn't going to see the light of day again."

"I'm glad to hear it." He clapped a hand on Spencer's shoulder. "I hate to ask, but considering I'll be doing the cooking, do you mind setting the table?"

Spencer shook his head. "Not at all." He walked to the kitchen, which left Derek and Rossi standing in the living room.

Rossi turned to Derek, sighing. "He loves that job, doesn't he?"

Derek nodded, clicking his tongue. "Yeah, which is going to make tonight even more awkward."

"More?"

"Oh come on, Rossi, profiler or not, you can't tell me you don't feel the tension between Hotch and Spencer. Hotch is pissed at Spencer for quitting and outsmarting him, while Spencer's pissed at Hotch because Hotch wouldn't overlook the rules to keep two of his agents happy and didn't fight for him."

Rossi raised his eyebrows. "...This is why I'll be drinking scotch tonight."

Derek laughed softly. "I think I'll join you if it gets to a certain level of awkward."

Rossi smirked, patting his back. "Go on, I think your husband could use a little help."

Emily was next to get there, walking inside and kicking off her shoes, putting on slippers.

"Getting yourself comfortable?" Derek asked.

She pointed to the heels. "Cute purchase, bad life decision," she told him. When she saw the confused look on his face, she shook her head. "Right, not your type of gay," she joked, hanging up her purse and jacket.

He chuckled. "You've got that right. But at least I'm the one with fashion sense in the relationship."

"...Excuse me?" Spencer said, looking at him. "I don't call a v-neck and jeans 'fashion sense'."

Emily laughed, walking over and pulling Spencer into a hug. "It's good to see you."

He patted her back, rubbing it. "Likewise."

She pulled back. "So how is everything? Settled in at the new job, making friends, all of that 'new kid in school' nonsense over with?"

He smiled. "All of that 'new kid in school' nonsense didn't really exist? I work independently, so I don't exactly 'make friends', but I'm settled in and doing well."

"That's great." She gave him a smile, patting his arm. "I'm glad you're happy."

He smiled, nodding. "Me too."

JJ had immediately pulled him into a hug the second she saw him, and wouldn't stop talking with him until he agreed to spend some time with Henry, who was practically demanding it. Once Garcia was there, she hugged him and refused to let go until he complained about not being able to breathe. She knew it was a lie, but still pulled back, planting a kiss on his cheek and immediately wiping away the pink lipstick.

"How's my favorite Boy Wonder doing?" she asked, fixing his hair. "I'm sure you're sick of talking about the new job, so we can talk anything. Married life, Doctor Who, conspiracy theories… I'm in for any of it."

He grinned. "To cover the bases on the job, like it, like the hours, enjoy what I'm doing. As for Doctor Who? Moffat is the devil, I unfortunately don't have any pressing conspiracy theories, and married life?" he shrugged. "It's pretty much how it was before, just without secret-keeping and with a ring on my finger."

She gave him a smile. "It's good to see my favorite genius smiling."

"Thank you."

Hotch was the last of the team to arrive, walking in shortly before dinner started. Luckily because of his timing, there wasn't any time for awkward moments. When they were done eating, everyone sat in the living room, waiting for Rossi to pick out a movie for them to watch together. Hotch had dismissed himself to make a good night call to Jack, leaving the rest of them to talk.

Spencer leaned against Derek and waited until Derek got the hint, wrapping an arm around him and kissing the top of his head.

"You two seriously need to cut down on the adorable," Garcia said, looking over at them. "It's already unfair to the world that you're both gay, but the fact that you're married? I don't know what the world did to deserve this karma but on behalf of it, I sincerely apologize."

"...You're forgiven?" Spencer said.

Derek laughed softly. "Sorry, mama. I'm sure there's some good karma on your way to make up for it."

She waited until Spencer wasn't looking and held up crossed fingers, to which he nodded.

JJ looked around at everyone before turning to Spencer. "...So, the new job?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I've already divulged every single detail that I possibly can about it. If I tell you anymore, I'll probably let something slip that I shouldn't and end up fired."

Garcia seemed to consider it before Emily gave her a look, shaking her head.

"I understand that I don't see everyone every single day anymore, but I don't understand why my job seems to be the only topic for discussion. With every single possible subject in the world, trust me, my job is not that much of an interesting topic."

Emily chewed on her cheek before speaking up. "...So you're happy? You think this CIA thing is going to be permanent?"

Spencer considered his answer and shrugged. "I am happy, but as for it being permanent, it's something that time will tell. I thought the BAU was going to be permanent, hence why I went in early, but as we all know, that didn't happen." Derek nudged his side and he looked up at him. "What, because I quit, I've lost the right to talk about it? We're talking and I'm always honest when I talk to family. I did think that I'd be at the BAU until I retired, and I'm not going to lie about that. But, clearly, somebody wanted me out of there so badly they decided my personal life was worth snooping into, either that or somebody just had that much dislike for one or both of us. And god forbid we bend a rule in my favor for a change."

Derek opened his mouth to say something, but was immediately cut off. "Reid, can I talk to you, privately?"

Everyone's mouths hung open as Spencer turned around to face his former superior. He shrugged, moving Derek's arm and standing up. "Of course, Agent Hotchner."

Hotch seemed agitated, but walked to one of the guest rooms, Spencer following him and Hotch immediately closing the door.

Emily was the first to speak up. "Agent Hotchner? Jesus, could he be any more pissed off if he tried?"

"You heard that rant," Derek said, running a hand over his scalp. "I've heard it at least twenty times."

"...Please tell me you're one of those super rich guys who equips each room in his house with a camera and audio?" Garcia asked Rossi hopefully.

He shook his head. "Afraid not, kitten."

JJ crossed her arms, sighing. "This night definitely just took a turn for the worse."

Everyone nodded their agreement, wondering what was going to happen.

Spencer leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "You wanted to talk?"

"Reid, I understand you're upset about what happened-"

Spencer scoffed. "Upset? You think I'm still angry because I'm upset? I'd like to think after eight years, you'd know me better than that."

"Then do you want to tell me what this is really about?"

"You can't intimidate me, Hotch. I don't work for you anymore, and it's not like you can threaten to take my job again, because I already gave it back to you."

"So this is about you quitting?"

He shook his head, taking a deep breath. "Every single person on this team has messed up at some point or another, Hotch. Everybody has. Tell me why I'm the one person who's ever been threatened with job loss. I stopped an unstable teenager from bringing a gun into a police station and dying from a bullet to the head, and I'm told that if I try anything like that again, I'd lose my job. Tell me how that's fair?"

"Nothing about this job is fair, Reid-"

"Emily's friend died, we investigated the case, and you gave her leeway. It reached a point when all of us could've lost our jobs for her, but we still did it because we were a team and a family. When she became overly emotional, you just told her to take some time off."

"That was different circumstances. She had just suffered a loss."

Spencer scoffed. "I nearly lost my life for the job, Hotch. I locked myself in a room with a WMD to help solve a case, and I wasn't even thanked for that. On that same case, JJ called Will and tried to inform him of what was happening, even though it was against so many rules because the rest of the area had no idea what was going on. She could've revealed that, and God forbid Will answered and his phone was on speaker, it would've created mass panic. And nothing. I almost died for the team, and still, I had 'you could lose your job' hanging over my head every single case, so I constantly had to be careful and worry about my actions, when nobody else did."

"That's not true."

"Oh? The first case we had with Rossi, he crossed so many lines and broke so many rules, and he just got a slap on the wrist. He'd been with the bureau longer than any of us and should've known better, but because the two of you were friends, he got a free pass, and that's not fair."

"Rossi had worked in the bureau at a different time, and he quickly learned his lesson about how this team functioned," Hotch said, defending him.

"It's not just them either. As the leader, you're supposed to set the example and show us how we're supposed to be on a case, but there were some points where that went out the window completely. When we were interviewing Chester Hardwick, you lost your cool and tried to fight him, and if I hadn't jumped in to talk to him, we probably wouldn't be here to have this conversation, because it would've taken him next to no time to kill us." He saw him ready to interrupt, but had to keep talking. "Then after everything that happened in Canada and when you got home, I get it, it was traumatizing, but you were extremely rude and disrespectful to every single person on this team, when all they wanted to do was help you, not to mention you walked into a house with someone who was extremely unstable and had a gun without any protection or backup. It was brave, but stupid. You can't tell me that me trying to save a teenager was jeopardizing my life and threaten to fire me, but then be completely okay with everybody else on this team messing up in their own ways."

"Is that what all of this was about? You're still upset about something that happened five years ago?"

Spencer shook his head. "This is so much more than that. Everyone else on this team seemed to have it easy except for me. We've all been through the ringer and back with this job, and I understand that, it takes its emotional toll on us, but that is absolutely no reason to single one of us out. It's not very fair to me that I'm the only person who was ever threatened with termination. I know that I no longer work for the BAU, but that's not something that I can let go of easily, nor can I just forget the fact that I no longer had a place in the bureau because of my life choices. This job takes enough from us that I don't think a relationship is that big of a deal and you need to, once again, threaten an agent's job. Maybe I wouldn't have needed to quit if you'd tried to be more reasonable and less of a boss."

"So you're blaming me for you deciding that your relationship was more important than your job?"

Spencer looked at him. "I don't regret my decision for a second, Hotch. I'm not sure I can say the same about you."

"Excuse me?"

He shrugged. "You can't fool me. Just because I'm off the team doesn't mean I don't know what's going on. In case you've forgotten, I'm married to Derek, and I can see what being down an agent is doing to the team dynamic. He comes home at the end of the day and he's exhausted, and he talked about having to work on extra case files. He'll come back from a case and most of the time, he needs to call me to come pick him up because he's too tired to drive himself home. Being down an agent is the worst thing that could've possibly happened to the team, and I can see that sticking to the rules really wasn't worth it in the end."

Hotch sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. "Reid, I understand your frustrations, and I don't know how many times I have to tell you that I fought for you."

Spencer chewed on his cheek. "Obviously not hard enough if it was so easy for me to walk out the door."

Hotch gave him a stern look. "I was your superior, and believe it or not, I knew about the marriage longer than I let on. I did my best to keep it under wraps and protect the two of you from anything happening."

"Not to be rude, but I sincerely doubt it."

"As unit chief, I'm required to keep tabs on my agents and know anything that changes in their lives. After the certificate was filed, it came through on my system. At first I thought it was a glitch, but as soon as I saw the signatures… you could've told me."

At first Spencer was speechless, but he soon had an answer. "No, I couldn't, know why? Because an 'agent' decided to tell you we were together, and you forced us to break-up because of it. You were okay with us spending several months separated and being depressed and upset and not working to our full potential because of it. We got back together and we knew that we couldn't trust anyone with the information or be seen in public, because an 'agent' would see us again. I don't think us going to you and saying we dating would go over well, let alone the news of marriage, especially considering the fact that all offices have video monitoring, so whoever watches the tapes would know. It wasn't worth jeopardizing my happiness."

"But it was worth jeopardizing your career?"

"No, because I'm doing just fine. I'm happily married, I have a great job, and I'm doing well. I can't say the same for the rest of the team, considering the slack they've needed to pick up in my absence."

"What's happening with the team is no longer any of your concern."

"No, I guess it's not, but when it affects my husband, it becomes my concern." He stood up straight, crossing his arms. "Why did you want to talk, Hotch?"

"I want this," he started, motioning toward the two of them, "to be civil, for the good of the team."

Spencer bit his lip, sighing. "I see your point, but if that's going to happen, I need to know two things."

Hotch looked at him, confused. "Okay."

"First, I need to know how hard you fought to keep me on the team."

Hotch took a deep breath. "As soon as the news reached the director, I spent a day arguing with him that this wasn't going to affect the team dynamic, and then on-and-off for another week I tried to reason with him that it wouldn't affect your work."

"...I thought you'd been taking vacation days."

He quickly shook his head. "I was with the director, trying to convince him that the two of you didn't need to be reprimanded like children."

Spencer blinked a few times, processing the information. "Wow. In that case, can I apologize for my behavior?"

"Only if I can apologize for mine. What was the second condition?"

Spencer smiled slightly before chewing on his cheek. "...Who did it?"

"I'm surprised you didn't have Garcia look into it."

"I was tempted, but decided that a technical analyst needed to be used for good, not personal gain."

Hotch nodded, looking around the room and grabbing a pad of paper and a pen. "Since we probably have people listening in," he started, writing it down and tearing the paper off, folding it and handing it to Spencer, "there's your answer. But this stays between the two of us and Morgan, are we clear?"

Spencer nodded. "Crystal." He tucked the paper into his pants pocket.

"You're not going to read it?"

Spencer shook his head. "I will later tonight at home with Derek. I don't want to make tonight any more awkward than it already is."

Hotch held out his hand. "Truce?"

Spencer looked at his hand, smirking, before taking it with his own, shaking it. "Truce."

Spencer walked out to the living room, sitting on the couch and resting his head on Derek's shoulder.

Derek raised an eyebrow, wrapping an arm around him and looking down at him. "Is everything okay?"

Spencer eyed Hotch before turning to Derek, nodding. "Everything's fine, why?"

Derek looked around at the rest of the room, confused. "...Seriously?"

He nodded against Derek's chest. "Seriously. What are we watching?" he asked, motioning toward the TV.

Hotch looked over, taking the seat beside Spencer on the couch. "Looks like Forrest Gump."

"Never seen it."

JJ glanced over at him. "You've never seen Forrest Gump?"

"You sound surprised," Derek said, straightening up, "if it's not nerdy, he's never seen it. I just showed him Titanic for the first time last year."

"Wow," JJ mouthed before turning back in her seat.

Spencer swatted at his chest. "Stop trying to embarrass me and focus on the movie."

Once the movie was over, everyone said their goodbyes, Spencer needing to promise the team that they'd have another dinner soon. Derek handed the keys to Spencer, kissing his cheek.

"I'll be there in a minute, warm the car up?"

"Sure, I can sit in the cold car while you wait in here for it to warm up."

Garcia giggled, patting Spencer's back. "I'll sit in the cold with you, sweet cheeks," she said, walking outside with him.

JJ sighed, running a hand through her hair. "It never came up, Derek, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," he said, chewing on his cheek, "maybe I can talk to him later about it, or casually bring it up."

"Considering how much he loves that new job?" Emily started, putting her purse over her shoulder, "good luck."

"I could talk to him?" Rossi suggested. "Maybe I could get through to him."

He shook his head. "You can try but I don't think it'll work."

"We'll see."


	3. Chapter 3

Derek closed the front door of their house, taking off his jacket and looking at Spencer. "Out with it."

Spencer sighed, taking the slip of paper out of his pocket, holding it up to Derek.

"...What does a piece of paper have to do with anything?"

Spencer swallowed, before biting on his lip. "Hotch and I talked, we smoothed things over, and he gave me the name of the agent who told the director as a sort of peace offering."

Derek eyed the paper before looking back at Spencer. "You're serious?"

He nodded slightly. "I didn't look yet," he assured him, "I didn't want to without you, that is, if you want to know who was behind it."

He looked at it again, taking it from Spencer's hand, sitting on the couch and staring at it. Spencer sighed, taking the seat beside him.

"Are we going to look?" Spencer asked, wringing his hands.

"...I think we have a right to know who did it," Derek reasoned. "They're the reason we went through hell and back over the past year. Yeah, we're together now, but after going through so much crap to get here… we should know."

Spencer nodded his agreement. "The one condition Hotch gave me is that this has to stay between the three of us. He shouldn't have even told me, but I pulled it out of him. Can you do that?"

"Depends on whose name is on this paper-"

"Derek," he snapped, "promise me or I take it and put it in the fireplace."

Derek licked his lips before nodding. "I promise."

Spencer reached out, taking a deep breath, taking the paper from Derek and opening it, eyebrows raised. "...Wow."

Derek eyed it before groaning, tilting his head back. "And this is serious?"

Spencer nodded, balling it up and throwing it toward the fireplace. "Hotch wouldn't lie."

"After everything I taught her, after I made her feel like a member of this team, and after I helped her, this is how she rewards me? 'I'm not on your team anymore, so now I'm going to ruin your life', was that her mindset?"

He shook his head, swallowing. "I don't know. I don't know what I did to insult her. I mean, I made that comment about her earrings during that one briefing, but that was to prove a point, and I apologized! I was never anything but nice to her."

Derek ran a hand over his head, exhaling. "It could've been jealousy."

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"I don't know, she did have a closeness to me while she was on the team. It could've been attraction, but that was when the two of us started dating, so I brushed off anything that felt like an advance."

"So as revenge, she tells the director about us, did she really think you'd be attracted to that?"

"We've been profiling for years, Spencer, but I can't even begin to profile a woman's mind."

Spencer smiled slightly, resting his head on Derek's shoulder. "It doesn't matter."

"Like hell it doesn't matter."

He shook his head, wrapping his arms around Derek. "It's the past, it's over, it's done with." He glanced up at him. "We're together, we're married, and we're both happy with where we are. I'm not going to let her affect me."

Derek thought about it before sighing, wrapping an arm around Spencer, rubbing his arm. "You're right. We're together, we're married, and everything's okay now."

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "...You forgot happy."

He paused before looking at Spencer. "I'm very happy with you."

Spencer wanted to question him but shook it off, sitting up. "I'm going to turn in."

"What, you're not going to tell me what happened between you and Hotch?"

"In the morning," he said, kissing his cheek. "Are you coming?"

"In a minute."

He watched as Spencer walked to the bedroom and leaned back on the couch, sighing and running a hand over his face. He hoped that maybe tomorrow, an opportunity would present itself to talk to Spencer about the team.

The next morning, the two of them were sitting in the living room with their coffee, talking about the night before.

"You went off on him?!" Derek asked, glancing over at him.

"I wouldn't say that I went off on him," Spencer said, tucking his legs underneath himself and sipping his coffee.

"What would you call it?"

Spencer shrugged. "Letting out all of my built-up aggression?"

Derek smiled, shaking his head. "Did it help?"

"I'd say so. I mean, I kind of feel bad for everything that came out. I brought up everyone else breaking the rules, and yet I was the only person who was ever threatened with losing my job. I gave him prime examples of everyone else doing it."

"...You didn't throw me under the bus in this moment, did you?"

Spencer laughed softly. "I couldn't think of anything you'd done wrong. Don't tell anyone, but I even did it to JJ, and I had one ready for Garcia too."

Derek's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"You've learned the lesson, now he has. Never aggravate an MIT graduate, because we have a history of going nuclear."

"Indeed."

It was a few minutes of comfortable silence before Derek spoke up again. "So, are you two on good terms now?"

"We decided that we should declare a truce, for the good of the team."

"So no more awkward silences or either of you avoiding team gatherings?"

Spencer chewed on his cheek. "Well, I don't know how I belong at team gatherings, seeing as I'm no longer a member of the team." He eyed Derek before focusing on his coffee mug.

"You're still a part of the family, Spencer…"

Spencer bit his lip before taking a deep breath. "Doesn't feel like it," he mumbled. "I spent my entire life trying to belong somewhere. I finally had a place where I fit in and I mattered, and I lost it for being who I am." He scoffed. "Some family dynamic that is, right?"

Derek got up from his chair, setting his coffee mug on the table and sitting beside Spencer, wrapping his arm around him. "It's okay to be upset, Spencer. It's okay not to be strong and to let go if you're frustrated." He reached down, taking Spencer's mug and setting it beside his. "You were screwed over and you have the right to be pissed off."

Spencer sighed, looking down at his hands. "It's hard to still feel like part of a family when you've all but exiled yourself from it."

"You're still part of our family, Spencer. When JJ left to work at the Pentagon, did we stop including her?" Spencer shook his head slightly. "And when Emily came back, after we got over our feelings, did we make her an outcast?" When Spencer shook his head again, Derek pulled pulled him closer, kissing the top of his head. "You still matter, Spencer," he said, rubbing his arm. "It doesn't matter if you work with us, for the CIA, or anything else. You're still family, and besides," he held his ring finger in front of Spencer's face, "you're sort of stuck with me."

Spencer smiled slightly. wiping his eyes. "I guess I am."

Derek ran his fingers through Spencer's hair, rubbing his back. "Do you need to talk about anything?"

Spencer swallowed, resting his head on Derek's shoulder and sighing. "I'm happy with where I am, and I enjoy what I'm doing-"

"You just wish you didn't end up there the way that you did?"

He nodded slightly. "The BAU was my family, and it was my safety net, and the fact that I had to remove myself from there before they were able to get rid of me because of my life choices… it's not fair."

"Do you know that Hotch was going to fire you for what we did?" Derek asked, looking down at him.

Spencer thought about it before shrugging. "I would've gotten some sort of disciplinary action that I didn't deserve for it, though I'm not positive it would've resulted in expulsion."

Derek looked down at him, confused. "So you quit, not knowing that you were going to lose your job?"

Spencer ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know, I wasn't thinking in that moment, I just wanted to prove my point."

"So you regret leaving?"

He paused before shaking his head. "I do miss the team and the dynamic, but at the CIA, I don't have rules and regulations to run my life for me. They don't care what I do on personal time, so long as I get the job done."

Derek clicked his tongue. "So… if the BAU were to invite you back, you'd turn them down?"

"They wouldn't."

Derek shrugged. "But if they did?"

Spencer let himself think about it before sighing. "Maybe? I don't know, it's not like the opportunity will present itself. They're not going to want me back for outsmarting them."

"They could."

Spencer sat up, wiping his eyes and exhaling. "We have a Sunday, you're not off on a case, I didn't have any work to bring home with me. We can go out and be a couple. How about we go out for a movie or something?"

"...Are you sure? We could keep talking, I don't mind."

He shook his head. "I really don't want to talk about the subject anymore. It's over, it's done with, and nothing's going to change it." He stood up, grabbing their coffee mugs. "I'll get us refills while you look up movie times. Is that okay?"

Derek nodded, reaching for the newspaper as Spencer went out to the kitchen. The talk may not have ended how he wanted, but at least he knew where Spencer's mind was at with everything, and it seemed like a beginning to talk him into coming back to the BAU.


	4. Chapter 4

At work on Monday morning, Derek leaned against the counter in the break room, waiting for the coffeepot to fill. He and Spencer had spent yesterday at the movies and then went out to dinner together, and Derek enjoyed being able to go out in public without having to worry about anybody seeing them. That had been one of the perks of marriage that Derek really enjoyed, he would gladly admit, but he still wished he was on the team and could be with him nearly every second of every day.

JJ walked in, setting her travel mug on the counter. "How was your weekend?"

He shrugged. "Same as yours - not long enough."

She smirked. "I feel your pain."

He ran a hand over his scalp, wondering what the best way would be to approach the subject. He finally decided that he had to come right out and say it. "I talked to Spencer."

She looked at him, curious. "Oh?"

He nodded slightly, crossing his arms and sighing, lowering his voice. "He'd consider coming back if the position was offered to him, and they gave him an apology."

"That's… amazing. Are you going to talk to Hotch?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I mean, I want him back just as much as the rest of you, but I see how happy he is with this new job and his guest lectures and I just… I don't know if I can take that from him."

She bit her lip. "I can see the problem… but if we don't get him back, they're going to replace him, and we're going to be screwed. We can find a way for him to do guest lectures here or something."

"I get that, but we need to get back to the issue of them apologizing for letting him leave in the first place." The coffeemaker beeped and he reached over, pouring himself a cup and filling her mug. "The bureau doesn't think they did anything wrong by it."

She thought about it before whispering. "What about A.D. Powers? I know he and Spence are close for who knows what reason, and maybe considering his rank-"

"It's not like I can walk into the assistant director's office and ask him a favor, JJ." He put the sugar and cream into his coffee, sighing. "I very rarely talk to the guy except to get his stamp of approval on something, and I don't think starting by asking for help is going to do anything but get me laughed out of his office."

"It's worth a try?" she offered, putting the lid on her mug. "I'm willing to bet he fought for Spence and wants him to come back to the team just as bad as we do."

He sighed. "I'll think about it, but that's all, okay?"

She nodded, patting his arm and picking up her mug, walking back to her desk. JJ had been right, Spencer and the A.D. did have some sort of friendship bond, and surely he had to realize the impact his absence was having on the team. The question was, would he be able to walk into the A.D.'s office and practically beg for him to let Spencer come back, and if he did, could he do it without seeming pathetic or needy?

Throughout the day, Derek debated going to the assistant director and asking him about Spencer. He only snapped out of it when his phone started ringing. Shaking his head, he reached over, answering it. "Derek Morgan."

"Tell me what's wrong."

He raised an eyebrow. "This whole 'married psychic ability' thing is scary."

Spencer laughed softly. "I wish I had that much skill."

"...Then how did you know something was wrong?"

"Garcia gave me a call and told me you've hardly moved in three hours. I know not having me there sucks, but come on, you don't have anyone to pawn those case files off on anymore. I have my own job to do without needing to put it aside to pull you out of whatever daze you're in."

"I'm sorry about that." He ran a hand over his scalp, eyeing the camera and waving.

"Come on, talk to me. What's wrong? Penny for your thoughts."

Derek chewed on his cheek, trying to think about the best way to approach the subject.

Spencer sighed. "Derek, don't even try lying to me, I can sense a lie."

"Oh, trust me, I know you can," he said, laughing softly.

"Are you sick? Do I need to come get you? Is the job getting to you and you need to talk?" Spencer guessed. "You can tell me."

"It's nothing serious like that. I just… I guess I have a question for you?"

Spencer paused. "...I'm listening."

He exhaled, trying to find the right words. "Have you talked to A.D. Powers lately?"

"A.D. Pow- oh, you mean John?"

"...Yeah, I guess if you two are on a first name basis, John."

"I just talked to him last week."

"...Did you call him, or did he call you? Was it work-related?"

Spencer crossed his arms. "Derek, I know we promised there'd be no secrets in our marriage, and I want to respect that, but all I can say is that I called him and it's none of your business what it was about."

"Right, sorry." It wasn't that Spencer kept a lot of secrets: on the contrary, Spencer could easily be read by a book. But certain things Spencer insisted weren't a big deal stayed secrets, and Derek could respect that. "So you two are, you know, close?"

"...I guess you could say we are? Derek, you're not making any sense to me, can you please tell me what this is about?"

He chewed on his cheek, sighing. It was no use trying to lie to him. "...We want you back, Spencer. The team needs you here, and quite frankly, I need you here. I was thinking that maybe I can talk to the A.D. and maybe-"

Spencer groaned loudly. "I was working and I'm pulled away because you want to bother the A.D. about me? My friendship with John has absolutely nothing to do with my job loss, Derek, and I'm not going to have you, my husband, go to him and ask for my job back, because that's petty and it's wrong. What I have with him is not something that can be used in the office, and you have to respect that." He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "Derek, you are so lucky I am at work right now," he hissed out. "We'll talk about this when you get home."

Derek winced, knowing he shouldn't have done this over the phone. "...I love you?"

"I love you, too, even if you are a complete imbecile." At that, Spencer hung up, and Derek knew he messed up.

He ran a hand over his face, collecting himself, before picking up the phone and calling JJ.

"Did you do it?" she asked immediately.

"Hello, JJ, how are you? I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"Derek, it's not the time or the place. Hotch is looking at resumes and we need him back."

"Considering the new one Spencer just ripped me? I definitely can't do it, and I'm going home to Mount Spencer erupting."

She leaned back in her seat, sighing and swearing under her breath. "Derek, I don't mean to rush you, but this needs to happen before his spot on this team is filled. I swear to God, if need be, I will get the entire team together and I'll choreograph a damn musical number begging him to come back."

"Now that, I'd like to see."

"Morgan," she snapped. "Just say the word and I'll get everyone in on this, I promise. We need him."

He sighed. "I'll call you after I deal with the reaming, deal?"

"If that's the best I'm going to get? Deal. Should I get something ready, just in case?"

He swallowed, biting down on his lip before nodding. "It couldn't hurt."

She hung up and he looked at the camera again, shaking his head and giving it a thumbs down, letting Garcia know that the plan was a complete dud.

When Derek got home that night, he was surprised to find that dinner hadn't already been made. He looked in the kitchen and saw nothing set out and there were no timers set. He then turned to the living room and saw Spencer sitting there, his arms crossed. He knew he was in for it now.

"...How was work?" Derek asked, taking off his jacket and hanging it up.

Spencer shook his head. "Why is my relationship with John suddenly your business, Derek?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm interrupted while I'm at work because you're daydreaming, and then out of nowhere, my relationship with John is on the forefront of your mind and it's suddenly okay to bother him about the fact that I don't work at the BAU anymore. I'm happy with myself, Derek, and I like what I'm doing. I'm sorry that I left and you're having trouble with your work, but that doesn't mean you can weasel me back in there."

Derek sighed, running a hand over his head. "I'm sorry, you're right, it's none of my business."

Spencer rolled his eyes. "For a change, you're right. What were you even thinking?!"

"I know you miss being on a team, and I know you don't like the fact that you only see everyone once every couple of weeks, once a month tops. I also know that you don't like being away from each other for too long… even though you have all of these nights and weekends home, I'm not always here, and I know you're not happy being alone with your thoughts. I get it, I overstepped the boundaries by bringing up A.D. Powers, because what happens between you two is personal and I need to respect that, but you can't tell me that you don't miss the BAU, even a little."

Spencer took a deep breath, balling his fists and trying to calm himself down. "You still had no right, Derek-"

"I know I didn't," he said, defending himself, "and I'm sorry, I am. But can you please just answer the question?"

He exhaled, releasing his hands and looking at Derek. "I miss it, but that's not going to change anything," he said softly. "I'm still not welcome there, no matter how close I try to stay to the team."

"Spencer, you're more than welcome. Everyone misses you and we all want you back. Jesus, we've been dropping hints like grenades over the past few months hoping you'd pick up on it and come back."

Spencer swallowed, running a hand through his hair. "I can't go back there, Derek."

"...Are you serious? Hotch started looking at applicants today. If you don't come back, we're completely screwed."

"Hotch can look at all the applicants he wants." He bit his cheek. "The BAU made me lose a three year relationship. The BAU made it so when I got that relationship back, I had to keep it hidden. The BAU made it so I had to get married to avoid their rules, and after that? The BAU still had problems with me. I'm not going back to a place where I felt uncomfortable being myself or sharing any details of my personal life, because that's not fair to me. I'm sure you can understand."

Derek sighed, nodding. "I get it, Spencer, and believe me when I say I considered walking out too."

"...You did?"

"But I couldn't, because the team was already down their best person, I couldn't have them lose their second best too."

Spencer swatted at his arm. "Arrogant."

"It's one of the things you love about me," Derek said, wrapping his arms around him and kissing the top of his head and rubbing his back.

"Don't know why," Spencer said sarcastically, burying his head in Derek's shoulder and sighing.

"What's it going to take to get you back?" Derek asked.

"The BAU permanently removing the stick from their ass, hitting Jordan Todd with it, and apologizing for how I was treated, what they put me through, and say that our relationship isn't an issue."

Derek chuckled, hugging him closer. "I don't know what I can do about the first two, but I might be able to swing the last… that is if you can leave your perfect CIA job and go back to being a boring Supervisory Special Agent and a team player. I know you're enjoying your lectures, but I'm pretty sure we can swing getting you a few at the BAU."

Spencer smiled slightly, shrugging. "Spending all of my time with you again wouldn't be so bad, though I'm sure I'd get sick of you."

Derek hissed, feigning pain. "That one hurt."

Spencer hit his chest. "You deserve it for being a jerk today."

"I had that one coming."

"Understatement," Spencer mumbled against his chest.

"There is a plus side though?" Derek offered.

Spencer looked up at him. "Oh?"

"It looks like we just survived our first fight as a married couple."

Spencer rolled his eyes. "You're an idiot."

"An idiot that you love and married."

Later on, the two of them had ordered in some Chinese food for dinner and decided to spend their night in. They sat up in bed, Spencer with his head rested against Derek's shoulder.

"I'm sorry for overreacting," he said, reaching down and lacing his fingers with Derek's, squeezing.

Derek picked up his hand, kissing Spencer's. "It's fine, I shouldn't have brought up the A.D., because whatever connection the two of you have is absolutely none of my business."

Spencer tensed up before swallowing, biting his lip. "You should know," he said softly.

"If you don't want to tell me, trust me, I get it."

He shook his head. "No secrets, right?" he said, looking up at him.

"Spencer-"

"This just… it has to stay between us, okay? This can't get out at the bureau, and maybe once I tell you, you'll see why I couldn't use my connection with him to get back into the BAU."

"Of course," Derek said, squeezing his hand.

He exhaled, preparing himself for what he needed to say. "As you know, when I was taken by Tobias Hankel, he would shoot me up with narcotics, specifically Dilaudid, hence why I refuse to take any medications, whether it be a headache or a bullet in my leg. And it was really hard to keep myself off of it."

Derek kissed the top of Spencer's head, squeezing his hand again.

"I ended up taking two vials of Dilaudid from Tobias' pocket after I shot him, and there were so many nights I'd come home from a case and want to shoot up. The withdrawals sucked, but so did the job." He reached up, wiping his eyes and sighing. "I didn't like that. I hated the feeling that I'd made it months without the drug and thought I could cave in and everything would be fine, so I needed to make a change." He bit down on his lip and willed himself to keep going. "I did my research, and I found a support group for Narcotics Anonymous, specifically a group of law enforcement officers who had been there before. The first Thursday of every month, I'm not going to the library, I'm going there, and I'm talking about my problem."

"Spencer, you can talk to me," he said softly, "I'm always here to listen."

He shook his head. "I love you, and I trust you, but you don't understand it, Derek. You don't know how bad addiction is, especially when it wasn't your choice. I needed to talk to people who have been there before and know what it's like. Please, I need you to be okay with that."

"Of course…"

He cleared his throat, blinking away a few tears and sighing. "That's where I met A.D. Powers. He's my sponsor. The only reason I have his number is so I can call him when I'm too stressed out by the job and need somebody to talk me down from putting a needle in my arm." He bit his cheek. "I'm sorry."

Derek sighed, letting go of Spencer's hand, wrapping his arms around him and rubbing his back. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

He sniffed, burying his head in Derek's shoulder. "It's hard, and I need the support, and I'm sorry, but I can't have you do it."

"It's fine," he whispered, trying to calm him down. "You're right, I haven't been there before and I don't know how hard it is. I'm not mad."

Spencer reached up, wiping his eyes and sighing. "Do you see why I can't have you stroll into the A.D.'s office and bring me up, Derek? I gave him my word that nobody at the bureau would ever find out and I shouldn't have told you, but I need you to understand. I know other people see our connection and they question it, but I can't tell anyone, and I certainly can't have anyone bring it up to him, or I'd be betraying his trust. I need you to respect that."

"I do," he said softly, rubbing his back. "And I'm sorry. I won't bring it up again."

"Thank you," Spencer mumbled.

"How long's it been?"

"Just over five years."

Derek kissed his forehead. "I'm proud of you."

Spencer smiled, wiping his eyes and nodding. "Thank you."

They stayed up that night, talking to each other, and they came to the decision that Spencer really did want to come back to the BAU, but like he said, he wasn't going back without an apology. He wasn't sure how, but Derek knew he had some magic to work.


	5. Chapter 5

At work, Derek waited for JJ by the coffeemaker, stirring in his sugar and cream.

She walked over, setting down her mug. "What happened? Did you ask him?"

He shook his head, pouring her coffee. "I didn't talk to the A.D., and after the reaming I got from Spencer, trust me, I'm not going to. But I did get something out of Spencer himself."

She reached over him, grabbing the sugar and pouring it in. "I'm listening."

He lowered his voice. "He wants to come back. He misses the team and he misses the BAU. His only conditions are accepting our marriage and apologizing to him for what they did."

She raised her eyebrows. "That doesn't seem like it's too impossible."

"Definitely not." He held out a fist. "I'll rock-paper-scissors it. Loser has to convince Hotch."

She rolled her eyes. "Seriously?"

"Neither of us wants to do it, but we both want him back on the team," he offered.

She sighed, putting her mug down. "Fine."

"Best out of three?"

"What are we doing?" Emily asked, setting her lunch in the fridge.

"Rock-paper-scissors. Loser talks Hotch into hiring Spencer back."

She blinked. "...He's coming back?"

"...With an apology and acceptance," Derek added.

She clicked her tongue, holding up a finger. "I have a better idea."

"...You do?"

"I slipped Reid's resume into his pile. Specifically, I slipped in five copies. It's something he's going to think Morgan did, so he's going to call him into his office. He's going to want to get to the bottom of whoever did it, so he'll keep going through the team, asking who did it. When we're called in? We all fight for Reid to get back on the team, bring up the team dynamic, how we worked in the past… whatever we need to convince Hotch that hiring new blood isn't the way to go."

Derek smiled. "You didn't do this alone, did you?"

She shook her head. "Garcia gave the idea, found his resume, and made the copies, and Rossi let me into this office." When he gave her a look, she shrugged. "What? We all want him back, don't we?"

As she walked away, Derek smirked. "So it's 5 on 1? I like these odds."

When Derek's phone rang, he quickly picked it up. "Derek Morgan."

Hotch sighed on the other end. "Morgan, I'd like to see you in my office, please."

"Sure, what's this about?" he asked, hiding a smirk.

"Just come to my office as soon as possible."

He hung up and walked out to the bullpen. On his way past Emily's desk, he gave her a thumbs up, before walking up to Hotch's office.

Emily leaned back in her chair. "One down, four to go."

Derek walked into Hotch's office. "You wanted to see me?"

"Have a seat."

He walked over, sitting in front of his desk, leaning forward on his elbows. "What's wrong, do you need me to look at a case for you?"

Hotch shook his head. "I was just going through the applicants to fill our empty spot on the team, and there was something that caught my eye."

He did his best to look surprised. "...Oh?"

He looked through, picking several out. "Do you want to tell me why I have six copies of Reid's resume mixed into my pile?"

His first thought was the fact that Emily had said she only put in five, and wondered where the extra had come from. He then looked up at Hotch, shrugging. "I didn't put anything in your pile, Hotch," he said honestly. "But if there are several copies of his resume, obviously at least one person on this team, or even in the bureau, wants him back."

Hotch sighed, setting them down on his desk. "You took no part in this?"

"Absolutely not. I've told you several times over the last few months that I wanted him back and the team needed him back, and that should've been enough to suffice. Obviously since it wasn't, somebody took matters into their own hands."

Hotch seemed to gauge his emotions. "Morgan, I can't have someone on the team who's going to bend the rules-"

"I did it too, Hotch," he defended. "At no point in time did I end the relationship, nor did I deny his proposal to marry me. And as Spencer told me he pointed out, we're not the only ones who have thrown the rules aside in favor of ourselves or someone else. Are you going to tell me you're going to start dismissing people from the team for not following the rules exactly as they're written?"

He leaned back in his seat. "If he does come back to this team, and I just mean if, I need professionalism between you two. Your relationship ends at the door and starts again when you leave."

"Of course."

He rubbed his temple. "You can go. I need to figure out who put these in here, though I know one for sure," he said, holding up a pink copy of his resume.

Derek smirked. "Good luck." He got up from his chair, walking past Emily and JJ's desks and giving them a thumbs up.

Throughout the day, everyone had been called into Hotch's office, one-by-one, to find out who had snuck in his resumes, and Derek was positive that while they were in there, every single one of them fought to get Spencer back on the team.

Rossi walked into his office and he looked up, smiling. "Did you just get back from your 'who stole the cookie from the cookie jar' meeting?"

He nodded, sinking to the seat in front of his desk. "I did, and Emily's in there now."

"Did you tell him you unlocked his office?"

"...He never directly asked me if I did, so I didn't find it prudent to do so."

Derek chuckled, shaking his head.

"Is he really going to come back if all of this goes well?"

"...He's going to have conditions, naturally, and he'll need to give his two weeks at the CIA, but when it comes down to it? He misses his family."

"Here's hoping this evil plan works," he said, leaning over and knocking on Derek's desk.

"Tell me about it. I miss sharing hotel rooms with him on someone else's dime," he joked.

Rossi put up his hands. "A little too much information for me." He gave Derek a smirk before getting up, holding up crossed fingers before leaving.

It wasn't long before Emily walked into his office, leaning against his desk and crossing her arms.

"Hotch meeting?"

She nodded. "I got busted. Everyone else was called in before me, sans Garcia."

"What did he say?"

She smiled slightly. "He asked why I didn't do it sooner."

"...Seriously?"

Nodding, she chewed on her cheek. "He knew it was me as soon as I walked in… makes sense that he's the unit chief with how quickly he profiled me. Luckily, Garcia put in her own original resume, so I was only busted for four of them."

"...He said there were six of his resume in the pile."

"He did?"

"Mhm. I got busted for the four from me, and Garcia's definitely getting the heat for the pink one." She held up five fingers, then motioned toward her thumb on her other hand. "...Where did this one come from?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

Once everyone had talked to Hotch, and Garcia had done her check-in, Derek picked up his phone, calling Spencer at work.

"Spencer Reid," he answered, setting down his case file.

"Hello, husband of mine."

Spencer rolled his eyes, smiling. "Hello to you too. Daydreaming again?"

"Not quite. Something happened at work today, and I just want to assure you that I absolutely had nothing to do with it."

Spencer took off his glasses, setting them down on his desk and rubbing his eyes. "Oh?"

"Migraine?" Derek asked.

"Yeah," he mumbled, sighing. "It'll pass. What happened?"

"Someone on the team slipped your resume into Hotch's pile of applicants for your job. Specifically, they slipped in five copies of it."

Spencer laughed softly. "You're really need me that badly?"

"You have no idea. Though there is a mystery."

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."

"I told you someone slipped in five? Hotch had six."

Spencer exhaled. "So… maybe whoever did it miscounted?"

"Definitely not. They're sure of it. Did you re-apply for your job?"

"...I told Hotch I'd be interested in taking the position again if it was offered to me, but I didn't see the point of submitting my resume to be considered for my own job."

Derek clicked his tongue, eyebrows raised. "Somebody else wants you back, kid."

"Consider me flattered." He smiled, resting his head in his hand. "Listen, I'm going to get back to work so I can leave early. What are you in the mood for for dinner?"

"I think I want you to go home and relax, get rid of that migraine, and I'll take care of dinner tonight."

"And that's why you're the best."

Derek laughed. "Oh, I know. See you when I get home. Love you."

"Love you too."

When Spencer hung up, Derek set his phone back, leaning forward in his chair and working on his case files, hoping he could finish them sometime soon.


	6. Chapter 6

The team had been called on a case, which meant Spencer and Derek were reduced to talking on the phone every night. Every once in a while when he was on a case, Derek would call on Spencer for some help, which he hoped would only help his chances of coming back to the team in Hotch's eyes.

One night, Derek laid back on his hotel room bed, calling Spencer.

Spencer answered his phone, smiling. "You miss me that much?"

"You know it. How's Clooney doing?"

Spencer threaded his fingers in Clooney's fur. "He's fast asleep and snoring away on your side of the bed."

"Why my side?"

"What, you think I'm going to let him gas up my side of the bed? Shame on you."

Derek laughed softly. "I guess so."

"Spence?" JJ asked, walking in and handing him his dinner.

He nodded, taking the tray.

"...You're rooming with JJ?"

"Well, you had to go and leave - ow, JJ!" he said, wincing and rubbing his side.

"Did she elbow you?"

"Yes."

"Thank her for me."

He rolled his eyes, turning to JJ. "You heard him. He says 'thank you'."

She smiled, opening the case file and sitting at the desk. "You're very welcome, Spence. And don't worry, we're not rooming together, I was in charge of dinner delivery - and we unfortunately have adjoining rooms."

"Look out for his snoring."

Derek raised an eyebrow. "I don't snore."

"Derek, I may sleep like a rock, but you snore so loudly I can feel it and it wakes me up." He heard JJ laughing and sighed. "I'm on speaker, aren't I?"

"You bet."

He rolled his eyes. "Just you wait, Derek-"

"I know, I know, to steal my words, 'paybacks are a bitch'."

Spencer mock laughed as his phone notification sound went off. He pulled the phone back, checking his messages and raising an eyebrow. "...How about that."

"..How about what?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out… like I said, payback."

Derek smirked. "Goodnight, husband dearest. I love you. Sweet dreams."

Spencer scoffed. "I love you too, dear."

Derek hung up the phone and JJ turned to him. "No idea what 'that' is?"

He shook his head. "Not even the slightest idea."

Spencer checked his message again, verifying it read what he believed, before calling the sender, leaning back against the headboard.

"Hello?"

He smiled slightly, crossing his arms. "Is that your way of saying I'm back on the team?"

"That's my way of saying 'it was a complete pain in the ass, but you'll be getting an apology from the director for you feeling a need to leave due to feeling as if you didn't belong."

He raised his eyebrows, impressed. "How did you manage to make that happen?"

"Believe me, it wasn't easy, and I not so politely pointed out that there's nothing in our rules about male agents pursuing each other, and therefore I shouldn't have been asked to separate the two of you in the first place."

"Wow… I take it we'll be discussing this further after you're finished with the case?"

"Indeed, and I have to thank you for helping Morgan narrow down our list earlier."

"...What are you talking about?"

Hotch shook his head. "Reid, I've known the two of you far too long to think that Morgan came to that conclusion on his own."

"Busted," he said, smile across his face. "If you need anymore help on the case, I have tomorrow off."

"Good to know. I'll be in touch."

He nodded, hanging up and plugging in the phone, feeling proud of Hotch for standing up for him and satisfied that he was getting what he wanted from the situation.

It had taken a few days, but the team was finally on their way home. It had been a long and daunting case, taking a lot out of everyone. The entire team opted to nap on the ride home, getting a few more hours of sleep before they had to go in and finish the paperwork for the case, being able to go home and get some sleep afterward.

Derek stretched slightly in his seat, trying to register his surroundings, before sighing. He looked around and realized everyone else was asleep except for Hotch, who was on the phone in the back of the jet. He listened for a moment before he reached beside him, nudging JJ with his elbow.

"Hm?" she mumbled.

He sighed, lowering his voice. "Hotch is talking to someone about taking the job."

Her eyes widened, immediately waking up. "What?"

He nodded, motioning toward Hotch talking on the phone. "He just finished a phone call with I don't know who, and now he's talking to an applicant."

She turned to him, whispering. "So he's officially replacing Spence?"

"Seems like it."

"We are so screwed."

"Tell me about it," he said softly, leaning back in his seat and sighing. He ran a hand over his face, thinking to himself. "We can't not have him on this team. We're struggling now. I don't care who they bring in, no matter what, we'll still struggle."

"Can you talk to him tonight? You seem to be able to get through to him, you know, being married and all."

"I can try, but he's still as stubborn as the day is long."

She held up crossed fingers and adjusted the blanket over herself, exhaling, trying to get back to sleep. Unfortunately, now Derek was wide awake, and he was going to be until after he got home.

Once Derek finished his paperwork, he told Hotch he was leaving and went straight home. When he walked into the house, he hoped to start talking to Spencer about getting his job back. He found Spencer on the phone, sitting on the couch. Figuring he was talking to one of his mother's doctors, he put off talking to him, hanging up his jacket and kicking off his shoes, setting them by the door and walking over to the couch, sitting down and stretching.

Spencer put a finger up to him. "Hey, Derek just got home, I'll talk to you later." He paused. "Yes, thank you." He hung up, putting his phone on the table before leaning over, kissing Derek. He pulled back, tucking his legs underneath himself. "How was the case?"

"Long, and the unsub was a major pain in the ass," Derek replied honestly. "Who was that?" he asked, motioning toward the phone.

"Just work stuff."

"You talk to your boss about me so much that you use my first name?"

Spencer smirked. "As a matter of fact, yes."

Derek sighed, knowing he had to get to the point. "Spencer, Hotch is hiring your replacement. "

"Oh?"

He nodded. "We need you back before he makes a huge mistake and brings someone in who's extremely underqualified and doesn't measure up to you by any stretch of the imagination. We can get other agents, but there's no such thing as replacing a Spencer Reid. Not to mention that-" His rant was cut off by Spencer's lips against his and he smiled, pulling back. "What was that for?"

Spencer patted his cheek. "Rambling endlessly is my job, not yours."

He laughed softly. "I guess so. But could you listen to me before you cut off my rambles?"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you didn't like it."

"Trust me, I did, but I'm trying to get a point across. We need you back on the team, Spencer. We all miss you and you're irreplaceable. Nobody is going to come close to being like you and, to quote Garcia, you were like the glue that held us together."

"...That sounds awfully like a Hallmark card."

He smiled slightly. "Do you get my point, though?"

He nodded. "I do." He leaned back in his seat. "...But I can't go ask for my job back-"

"Spencer!" Derek cut him off. "You miss it. We miss you. Why the hell would you not-"

Spencer rolled his eyes, cupping a hand over his mouth. "If you'd let me finish, though I do enjoy you constantly praising me? I can't go ask for my job back, because it's already been offered to me." He motioned toward his phone on the table. "That was Hotch, helping me come up with ways to tie up the loose ends with my job at the CIA once my two weeks notice is up."

Derek's eyes widened. "Wait, you're coming back?"

He smiled, licking his lips before nodding. "It has to stay between us for now, but I'm coming back."

Derek leaned over, wrapping his arms around Spencer and pulling him into a tight hug before putting a hand on each of his cheeks, kissing him.

Spencer pulled back a minute later, smirking. "If I'd known I was going to get this reaction, I'd have told you when he offered it to me."

"You've known?"

"Mhm, and Hotch gave me permission to tell you a few days ago."

"And you didn't."

"Come on, like you've always said, paybacks are a bitch."  
**Derek shook his head at his own words being used against him, but he couldn't be more relieved that the team was going to be whole again.**


	7. Chapter 7

It had been hard for Derek to keep the secret, but he didn't want to face the wrath of Spencer if he ended up letting it slip to anyone on the team. Hotch had made an announcement to the team that their new member would be starting on Monday, and it took everything in him to bite his tongue and not say anything. The rest of the team looked around at each other, panicked.

"This is really happening, isn't it?" JJ said, her voice low. "We're really going to replace Spence."

Emily shrugged, sighing. "We couldn't keep the gap in our team hidden forever. I'm sure the director or the A.D. or someone noticed that we were behind and insisted on it."

"Hotch tried to keep it inside the team," Rossi confirmed, "but I guess our paperwork did the talking for us. None of us could measure up to Reid's workload. After he'd be done with his own work, he'd come and help all of us out. Without him, we were doomed."

Garcia squeezed Derek's shoulder. "Please tell me you can talk him into coming back, Derek. I know Hotch is bringing in this new person, but… I don't know, maybe we change his mind."

He shook his head slightly. "I'm sorry, Baby Girl, but Hotch chose someone and that decision's going to be permanent. Spencer demanded an apology from the director and changed work conditions, and I don't think the BAU is up for bending the rules to get one person back."

There was a collective sigh before Garcia spoke up again. "I'm not going to be the welcoming committee. This person needs to know that they're going to be a replacement for someone we care about."

"Garcia," JJ started, "we can't hate this person because they're not him. There's nothing we can do and I'm sure Hotch's hands are tied and he wanted Spence back as much as the rest of us." She glanced at each member of his team. "We can't ostracize whoever it is just because of who they're not."

Derek nodded, trying to hide a smile. "Agreed. This new person has to know that this team is a family, and that means they're part of the insanity too."

Everyone nodded their agreement and Rossi was the first to stand up. "I suppose we should all get back to work so we don't have a million things to do on Monday."

They walked back to their desks and Derek went to his office, closing the door and sinking into his chair, reaching for his phone and calling Spencer.

"Yes, dear?" Spencer answered.

Derek smiled slightly. "Hello to you too, darling. How's the last day going?"

"They don't realize how much they're going to miss me when I'm gone. I finished up my workload and did a few things for my co-workers who were falling behind."

"So it's just like old times?"

He laughed softly. "I guess you could say that. How was the meeting?"

"Hotch announced that we've hired your replacement, and everyone's in a panic over welcoming someone new into the family. Do you know how hard I had to bite my tongue?"

"Oh, I'm sure it was hard, but I really appreciate it. Dinner on me tonight? I feel like going out to celebrate, possibly at your favorite steak house?"

"Now that sounds amazing." He looked at the stack of case files on his desk. "Let me just tell you, I can't wait until Monday, because I need my stack to get mysteriously smaller again."

Spencer mock laughed. "Yes, I'm sure that's the only reason you miss me working with you."

"I guess you're pretty good to look at, too."

Spencer rolled his eyes. "I'll meet you at the restaurant tonight. I love you."

"Love you too, sweet cheeks."

Spencer laughed. "Goodbye, Derek."

He hung up, smiling to himself, before reaching for a case file and opening it.

On Sunday night, Spencer was checking his bag for the following morning, making sure he had everything that he needed.

"Am I driving you in tomorrow morning, or do you need to get in early?" Derek asked, pulling the blankets back on their bed, shaking his head when Clooney jumped up and immediately made himself comfortable.

"I need to go in, meet with the director, and fill out the necessary paperwork. Most likely when everyone gets in, I'll still be in Hotch's office."

"Dramatic effect?" Derek asked.

Spencer smiled. "You could say that. You really haven't told anybody?"

Derek shook his head. "You told me not to, so I didn't, and let me tell you it was a bitch when everyone started complaining about having to welcome someone new into the family."

"I appreciate it." He closed up his bag, hanging it up on the closet door, before turning the light off and climbing into bed. "So what have people said about the new blood?"

Derek wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Just the usual. 'I can't believe we're getting someone new'. 'We'll be fine without him'. 'He or she is definitely not going to be Spencer'."

Spencer chuckled. "He or she is definitely going to be Spencer."

"That one made it so I had to leave the room and laugh in my office. If I'd started laughing in front of them, cover would've been blown and it would've sucked."

"Yes it would've." He leaned into Derek, kissing his cheek before resting his head on his shoulder, reaching down and lacing their fingers. "Are you ready for me to come back?"

"Believe me, I am more than ready to have our resident genius officially on the team again, and not just calling you when I need help."

Spencer swatted at his chest. "Admit it, you missed me."

Derek shrugged. "I guess I missed seeing you pretty much every second of every day."

"That's more like it."

Derek woke up the following morning to the sound of Spencer getting ready. He sat up in bed, running a hand over his scalp.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Spencer asked, buttoning his shirt.

Derek shook his head. "Had to get up for my workout," he mumbled, stretching slightly. "Really, purple?"

"I know how much you like me in it," Spencer said, shrugging. "Might as well make it a good first day back for both of us."

"Well I appreciate it."

Spencer leaned over, kissing him softly. "I'll see you when you get in," he whispered. "Next pot of coffee should be ready when you come up from the basement."

Derek smirked. "Thank you, Pretty Boy."

Spencer blushed, putting his bag over his shoulder and adjusting his scarf. "I'll see you in a few hours." He gave Derek another kiss on the cheek before turning around, walking out.

When Derek made it in, as Spencer had predicted, he was still in Hotch's office, the doors closed and the blinds drawn. The rest of the team was gathered at Emily's desk, trying to peek in.

"New blood?" he asked, taking off his jacket and putting it over his arm.

Emily nodded. "They've been in there since before Garcia got here, and she was the first of us in, so we have no idea who it could be, if it's a male or female, or what they're like."

"You could always what you did to me and profile what they brought in," Rossi said, motioning toward the box on Spencer's desk. Derek recognized it as the box of things he'd brought from his desk at the CIA.

Derek shrugged. "Why not? It could kill some time because obviously we're not going to get anything done waiting for this person. Just don't get us busted."

Garcia was the first to walk over, taking the top off of the box and looking through. "Some drawings, obviously they have a kid in their life."

Derek knew if JJ would get a look at them, she'd recognize them as Henry's. However, she was too busy taking out pens and a holder for them. "Plenty of pens, obviously they don't think they'll be making many mistakes."

Emily held up a coffee mug. "They survive on our lifeline," she pointed out.

"A few reference books," Rossi said, motioning toward them at the bottom of the box. "They're definitely going to use them when working on case files."

Derek bit his lip, holding back a laugh as he held up some blank notebooks. "Avid notetaker," he added, before sitting back and watching them.

None of them noticed the door to Hotch's office open, or Hotch and Spencer walking out. Derek looked at Spencer, pointing to the box, and Spencer winked, walking down the steps and standing behind them, crossing his arms.

"...What's going on?" he asked, peeking over their shoulders.

"Oh, hey, Spence," JJ said, putting a few of the things back into the box, "just looking into the new person on the team… are you here to drop something off with Derek?"

He shook his head, looking inside. "Obviously someone who has free time if he can have crossword puzzle books sitting in his desk," he added, "and they definitely have to be intelligent to fill it out in pen."

Emily nodded. "Good observation," she mumbled, turning to face him and gasping. "...Why are you wearing your badge?"

"...Sidearm too," Rossi said, crossing his arms and looking him over, before chuckling.

Garcia gasped, looking over at Hotch. "Is this what I think it is?"

Hotch gave them a smile, motioning toward Spencer. "Everyone, welcome your new team member."

Garcia squealed excitedly, pulling him into a hug and kissing his cheek. "It's so good to have you back, Boy Wonder!"

He smiled, rubbing her back. "It's good to be back, Garcia."

JJ swatted at his arm. "You could've told me."

He shook his head. "It was more fun this way."

As she pulled him into a hug, Rossi raised an eyebrow. "...What about the CIA?"

He shrugged. "They can find a new genius for hire. I missed the team dynamic."

Emily gave him a smile. "And we missed you too," she said, waiting for JJ to move aside before hugging him.

Garcia looked over at Derek. "...You knew!"

He nodded, smiling. "And trust me, it was hard to keep the secret." He leaned over to Garcia, so only she could hear. "But he threatened to take away his husbandly duties."

"You're forgiven."

It took no time for Spencer to adjust to being on the team again, and it was just like old times. He would finish his case files and when he had the time, he would help the rest of the team. He'd gotten his apology, he'd gotten the change in policy for him and Derek to live peacefully, and he was finally back where he belonged, despite the setback.


End file.
